SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Californians have denounced the Trump administration’s latest step toward rescinding the U.S. Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This comes in response to an announcement that the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind the Roadless Rule in its entirety. According to the Forest Service, comments may be submitted about the proposed changes at Regulations.gov. The comment portal is expected to open this week and close at midnight on September 21, 2026. This will leave the public with only 33 days or less to participate in the public comment process and respond to the proposed changes.
The Roadless Rule is a highly popular conservation measure enacted in 2001. It protects 58 million acres of roadless national forest areas in 39 states, including over 4 million acres in California. This rollback would remove long-standing protections for about one-third of national forestlands nationwide. It is another attempt to remove protections to facilitate resource extraction and sell off our national public lands to the highest bidder.
Recently released polling also highlights that Californians are deeply concerned about the maintenance and accessibility of their public lands, including national forests. 86 percent of voters surveyed oppose proposals to sell off public lands to corporations and other private interests, resulting in reduced public access. A staggering 75 percent of respondents are strongly opposed to these proposals.
Earlier this year, communities across California rallied to host over a dozen People’s Town Halls in defense of the Roadless Rule. These community-hosted town hall events gave residents a chance to voice their concerns about the proposed change, as there have been no significant public hearings to date. Roughly 500 concerned community members attended the town halls. In addition, 1,000 public comments have already been gathered in anticipation of this announcement. These comments will now be submitted to the Forest Service.
Eliminating the Roadless Rule would jeopardize popular recreation areas, wildlife habitat, and drinking water sources across 10 national forests statewide, from the Klamath Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to southern ranges, like the Cleveland National Forest. See here for a map of areas that would be impacted. Here’s what’s at risk in California:
- Threatens California Forests and Economy: Roadless areas protect over 4 million acres across national forests in California, including lands surrounding Yosemite National Park and the Giant Sequoia National Monument, and large sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. Roadless protections also safeguard wild places like the Ventana Wilderness, San Gabriel Mountains, Trinity Alps, Castle Crags, the North Fork of the American River, and Granite Chief near Lake Tahoe. These public lands help support the state’s $81.5 billion outdoor recreation economy and provide irreplaceable opportunities for Californians to connect with nature.
- Increases Wildfire Risk: Building new roads into wild areas increases the likelihood of human-caused ignitions. A study from The Wilderness Society, looking at 30 years of data, confirms that wildfires are four times more likely to start in areas with roads than in roadless forest tracts. Another study showed that more than 90 percent of all wildfires nationwide occurred within half a mile of a road.
- Threatens Clean Water Supply: These areas are essential for clean water for communities across the state. Protected forest land contains the headwaters for rivers including the Klamath, the Tuolumne, the Merced, and the Sacramento Rivers, which support millions of Californians, agriculture, and recreational and commercial fisheries. National forests supply about 50% of California’s surface water.
California water and fire experts, outdoor recreationists, and local community members expressed their opposition to any challenges to the Roadless Rule with the following statements:
“By their very nature, roadless areas are remote and inaccessible and experience far fewer ignitions than lands near roads. Opening roadless areas to logging and road construction will only increase the number of fires, not reduce them.” – Gregory H. Aplet, PhD, Senior Forest Scientist, The Wilderness Society
“During my career as a USFS hydrologist, the Roadless Rule has been a successful tool for identifying and protecting large areas of the National Forest that are critical to maintaining healthy rivers and watersheds. In fact, thousands of miles of existing managed roads were included in the 2001 Roadless Areas designation. However, the Roadless Rule is essential to ensure that new roads in Roadless Areas are considered only after a thorough assessment of defined exceptions. In the larger picture, the Roadless Rule helps ensure that the planned USFS road network, critical for recreational access and land management, does not adversely affect water quality and fish habitat, and does not exceed the workforce and budget capacity of the agency to maintain them.” – Susan Norman, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Board Chair
“We are strongly opposed to the rollback of the Roadless Rule and all attempts to take away our access to our backcountry. I urge everyone who enjoys mountain biking to submit a comment to the U.S. Forest Service and make our voices loud and clear: our public lands should be protected and trail systems accessible for everyone to enjoy.” – David Browning, President, Orange County Mountain Bike Association (OCMTBA)
“Roadless areas protect the kind of backcountry experience that attracts many of us to public lands in the first place — quiet, undeveloped areas where people can travel under their own power and experience a sense of solitude, awe and adventure. The Roadless Rule has played a major role in keeping those landscapes intact. Once roads are built into previously undeveloped areas, the character of those places changes permanently, both ecologically and in the recreation experience they provide.” – Anthony Cupaiuolo, Executive Director, Tahoe Backcountry Alliance
“The attempt to rollback the Roadless Rule is reckless and shortsighted. Veterans depend on our public lands, including our national forests, for respite, recovery, and community. These experiences are central to rejoining civilian life after deployments and to long-term physical and mental health. That’s why we’re speaking up for our national forests and standing strong against the rollback of the Roadless Rule.” – Janessa Goldbeck, United States Marine Corps Veteran and CEO, Vet Voice Foundation
“San Mateo Creek is considered the most pristine coastal stream south of the Santa Monica Mountains, with no major dams or diversions. Together with nearby protected lands, the wilderness anchors a large habitat block that supports wide‑ranging species like mountain lion, mule deer, golden eagle, and rare species such as southern steelhead trout, California gnatcatcher, coastal cactus wren, and arroyo toad. Keeping this area roadless and intact is critical for regional wildlife connectivity, clean water to the coast, and the long‑term health of south‑coastal California ecosystems.” – Melanie Schlotterbeck, Conservation Consultant, Hills For Everyone
“The claim that we need to repeal the Roadless Rule to address wildfire is simply not accurate. Questionable forest thinning projects already move forward in these areas. The Roadless Rule simply protects the biggest mature and old-growth trees, and those are the trees most resistant to wildfire.” – Benjamin Pitterle, Director of Advocacy, Los Padres ForestWatch
“The Roadless Rule is one of the strongest protections for California’s native plants, safeguarding intact habitats that many rare and sensitive species depend on to survive. Weakening it would result in greater fragmentation of habitats, spread of invasive species, and loss of native species — threatening California’s remaining natural forests and all who depend on them.” – Jun Bando, Executive Director, California Native Plant Society
“Scrapping the Roadless Area Conservation Rule puts nearly 4.5 MILLION acres of California’s most intact and spectacular federal forests at risk of development and degradation. There is no good reason for doing it. The administration should back away from this dangerous proposal, which increases the risk of wildfire in the state, undermines wildlife habitat, and degrades recreation opportunities for California residents and visitors alike.” – Mark Green, Executive Director, CalWild
“Rescinding the Roadless Rule would put more than 4 million acres of California’s most intact national forest lands at risk – from the redwoods of the north to the forests surrounding communities like Idyllwild in Congressman Calvert’s district, where I live alongside two protected roadless areas. These landscapes protect clean drinking water, support wildlife habitat, reduce wildfire risk, and sustain the outdoor recreation and tourism economies that mountain communities depend on. Across California, roadless areas represent some of the last remaining wild backcountry we have left. Opening them to new roads, logging, and industrial development would permanently fragment forests that Californians overwhelmingly want protected for future generations.” – Mary Lunetta, California Conservation Strategist, Sierra Club